It All Started With A Smell

One Shot - Red Faced

Neji's POV:

He sat up, looking at his hands to see how the damage on the knuckles was healing. When he turned them over and saw his palms he blushed. He shook his hands, trying to remove the memory currently clinging to them. He felt like a violator. He knew it wasn't truly his fault. If he had known, he would have avoided... that area. He did with Tenten even though she didn't really have much to avoid yet. But the other day, he had thought he was fighting a male. Why wouldn't he? They had short hair, wore boy's clothing, and... well Hinata had short hair, and he knew many females who chose to wear boy's clothing. So why did he think Naruto was male on first sight?

Then again, he had noticed Hinata's sigh filled gazes that she sent Naruto and had heard her refer to the blonde as 'he' so at least he knew he wasn't alone with his confusion. He pondered for a moment about telling his cousin that her affections were aimed at a female. However, he realised that to tell anyone about his discovery would mean having to explain how he discovered it. The mere thought of the circumstance made him blush so deeply that he felt dizzy.

"I practically molested her!" He whispered, mortified. With a shutter of disgust he started rubbing his hands furiously against the blanket on his bed. He knew he needed to apologise and confront what he had done but when he had seen Naruto at the funeral for those lost in the invasion he had ran the other way.

He decided that, given the topic, he should get advice before speaking with Naruto. The last thing he wanted was to make the situation worse. He thought about asking Hinata for her opinion but shuttered at the thought of her finding out what he had done to Naruto. Instead he pulled Tenten aside after practice that day, having spent most of the day trying to work out how to start the conversation.

"Tenten, I could use your guidance." Neji fought the urge to fidget and schooled his expressions into those of cool detachment.

"What's the matter, Neji?"

"As you are aware, my fighting style is that of Gentle Palm." He cleared his throat as Tenten nodded, waiting for him to continue. "If I versed you without being aware that you were female, how would I effectively apologise for that?"

"Why wouldn't you know I was a girl?" Tenten asked, frowning at him and crossing her arms over her chest.

"Because you don't look like a female," Neji explained, only to notice by the glare he received that he had said something wrong. "Why are you mad?"

"I don't look like a girl? What's wrong with how I look?" Tenten snapped.

"Oh, I see." He took a moment to think over his wording, though with every millisecond that Tenten stared at him he grew more anxious. "I was talking about you only because I have replaced the actual girl this happened to with you."

Tenten gasped. "Oh. I see. Well, I would start by NOT saying that you didn't realise they were a girl."

"But how will I explain how I accidentally... um..."

"Why didn't you know?"

"They dress in baggy, male clothing, have short hair, mostly male friends as far as I've seen, and she acts the way you'd expect a boy to act."

"Are you sure they aren't just a boy with a softer body than you expected?"

He tried to fight the blush but was certain that he failed. "No, I'm fairly certain that they are female. And so I know I need to apologise but I don't want confront the issue in a way that insults her or makes her feel like an object or attacked. If the situation was reversed I wouldn't want the person who... violated me to corner me and force me to accept their apology just so they would go away."

"Alright, I see where you're coming from." Tenten sighed. "For starters, talk to her in a public area, but not in earshot of people. Make sure the space is open so she can walk away if she wants to, and lastly, don't bring up the fact that you didn't know she was a girl unless she asks, and try to spin it that you're just dumb when it comes to genders. No need to make her feel bad."

Neji repeated the information back to Tenten, making sure he had it correct before he thanked the girl. He went in search of Naruto shortly after, wishing to get the inevitable conflict over with. He remembered Guy-Sensei and Lee mentioning seeing Naruto at the ramen shop often so he started by heading there. When he had seen the blonde walking away from the food stand Neji was thankful he had remembered that bit of seemingly useless information.

When he was close enough he called out to Naruto, half wishing the girl wouldn't hear him. She did and turned to look at him, shooting him a confused look. Taking a deep breath, Neji closed the distance between them, making sure to give Naruto enough space.

"I wish to speak with you."

"Okay... about what?"

"The fact that you're female," He stated, before realising he might have chosen his opening statement poorly.

Naruto looked at him with horror before grabbing his arm and pulling him into a nearby alley. "What are you talking about?" She hissed.

"I just wanted to apologise for our fight. I use Gentle Palm and that means during our fight my hands may have... touched on inappropriate body parts of yours. I just wanted you to know that wasn't intentional and I am very sorry for it."

Naruto looked around in a panic before nodding quickly at him. "Fine, I accept your apology as long as you don't tell anyone I'm female."

He frowned. "Why wouldn't you want people to know?"

"That's none of your business, or do you want everyone asking how you found out?"

Blushing at the thought of everyone knowing, he shook his head. "No, you're right, I don't. I will keep your... secret."

"Excellent and we can just pretend that this never happened." With her eyes filled with what looked like terror Naruto turned and practically fled Neji's sight. It wasn't until he was making his way back to the Hyuga Estate that he realised that whilst his apology alleviated his own embarrassment, it may not have helped Naruto at all. If her behaviour was any indication she may have preferred it if he had never mentioned their fight and his discovery. He was filled with questions he knew he was unlikely to get answers for and the sight of his palms still caused a heavy blush to his cheeks.

Sighing, he just hoped that when Hinata found out Naruto's gender she didn't remember the fight between him and Naruto. He did not want his cousin realising what he had done to her friend.